New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-11-11
.JESTICE WILL BE DONE.

| JUSIICE WIZ DE OONE'
The suicide of Lingg the most
malevolcnt of the Anarchists. was grim, char
acteristic, terrible. The laxity of discipline
in the Chicago Jail which made it possible is dis
graceful to all concerned and has been as
much of a National scandal as the similar
lack of dccorum in the Gutcau trial. Tho
episode adds another tragic shade to this bloody
history and will help to remind all men that
the way of Anarchists in this country is likely
to be hard. There is, indeed, picturesque
Justice in this lingering and miserable ending.
The man dies the dogs death he prepared
| for others. Sympathy with him that might
otherwise be felt is checked by the thought
that he could not have experienced even small
fraction of the torture he inflicted on the seven
policemen who died and the sixty who were
wounded many Of whom owe TO HIM the loss
of almost everything that makes life worth
| living.
| Tragic as the occurrence is. it sinks almost
into insgniicance, however, by the side OF the
| interest taken in Governor Oglcsbys decision
He has resisted the appeals made to him except
in the cases Of Fieldcn and Schwab, whose
sentences he has committed to imprisonment for
life. The public mind has been somewhat
prepared for these exceptions by repeated IN
tmations that the degree Of their guilt was
considered less than that of Their fellows.
| While this may be true, it has seemed to those
at a distance that it was sufficient, in the case
Of both men, to justify the extreme penalty
of the law. While Ficldens participation IN
the carly stages of the conspiracy did not, per
haps fully appear, he was foremost In the
! ,,b;I 70
TO the testimony of no less than SIX police
officers fired into their ranks With a revolver
Immediately as the bomb exploded. which 1t
did ,bo rnoment he ceased speaking. This
testimony was. to be sure. contIadictcd but
the Jury evidently preferred TO believe men
who had no special object In swearing away
Ficldcn's life rather than men who were prob
ably ready to swear to anything TO save 1t.
| The Supreme Court held that the jury were
justified in believing that Ficldcn was one
Of the conspratOrs, while Of Schwab' VINO
vas foreman of the paper OF which spies was
editor, it held that he. as well as spies. not
| only had guilty knowledge Of the conspiracy
| after it was formed, but inspired the conccp-
| ton Of it before it was formed"
Still, if Governor OgIcsby has made any
error here, it has been on the side Of mercy
and it is better perhaps. to feel that these men
will suffer lighter penalty than they deserved
than it would have been for many to believe that
they had been unjustly hanged. The exception
made will have one good effect, which Governor
Oglcsby could not, Of course take into account.
| IL will give the lie to Anarchist rantlng about
any spirit of vcngcfulncss toward these men.
! IL will provo that the Governor, as the people S
representative has desired to do only exact
Justice. and was ready, if he could to temper
il with mercy.
The death of these five men Will nc loud
warning TO the whole malignant brood Of Anar-
chists, not only in this country but all over
The civilized world, that their crimes will no.
where be moro stcrnly rcprcsscd than in the
great Republic. If any of this class have
supposed, because we have, practically, no
standing army and the Old World systems Of
police espionage arc unknown among us, that
therefore we have no adequate means Of pro-
lection against the enemies Of society. they
will sec their mistake to-day. The silent final
scene at Chicago will speak to them in a
I voice more terrible than thunder. There is
no country where there is so little outward
appearance of restraint upon the freedom
either of speech or Of action, but there is mono
| in which order and peace rest so surely upon
the firm foundations of the popular will. The
American people owe a debt of gratitude to
Governor Ogicsby for the determination with
which, under most trying circumstances, he
has vindcatcd their good name and protected
them from grave dangers.